Many people claiming the dole are working part-time.

Volunteering while claiming the dole used to be barred, and it was right to lift this ban -it closed off a route into employment.

There may be as many as 58,000 people claiming the dole fraudulently, according to a report by the Dail Select Committee of Public Accounts.

More than 3,000 people joined the live register in March, sending the numbers claiming the dole higher for the first time in eight months.

Some 11,222 United Kingdom citizens are claiming the dole in this State, that is some five times as many as Irish citizens claiming in Britain.